Shooting Stars
by bitesizedallyx3
Summary: Hao&Mari Hao is a bit OOC. Opacho left Hao's side. The only loyal follower Hao had was Mari. What happens when he starts falling for Mari? Will they end up together after all the years of loyalty? Rated T to be safe


A short oneshot with Mari & Hao Asakura

Sorry if Hao is a little OOC. It's because he realized that Yoh can be a great Shaman King and all his hatred for human disappeared and he became a little easier going.

_Mari misses Hao-sama…where's Hao-sama? _Mari thought. Mari was sitting there on a rock by the shore. She loves the ocean, the night sky and everything like that. Out of no where, a strong breeze blew. She shuddered at the cold air since she was only wearing her black tank dress. She felt a white cloth wrapped around her and she looked up.

"Hao-sama? Why Hao-sama giving Mari his cloak? Is Hao-sama not cold?" Mari asked in her small voice. Hao just looked at her and sat down.

He just kept silent while Mari just closed her eyes and hugged the cloak closer. Hao sneaked a glance at her and kept silent. She was a really loyal and special follower. When he found her, she was really silent and did not say anything at all. She was beaten and battered, holding a battered doll. Hao had picked her up then, and Mari formed the Flower group with the older Kanna and Macchi. If Hao was correct, Mari is even more loyal than Opacho.

"Mari, may I ask you a question?" Hao asked. Mari nodded silently.

"If Asakura Yoh and his friends decide to combine their powers to kill me, and they would succeed, but you were there, what would you do?" Hao asked, unsure of what he was doing. He gave a small smirk as he looked over to Mari. He then shook his head. "Never mind, you don't have to answer that." Hao smiled at her (it looked like a smirk).

Mari blushed a little before clearing her head. "Mari will protect Hao-sama even though my powers are not enough. Mari will most definitely make sure Hao-sama is safe…if they're powerful, then to Mari, it'll be more interesting and not boring." Mari said as she looked over at Hao.

"Why would you do that even if you know that you'll die?" Hao asked. Mari shook her head.

"Even at Mari's last moment, Mari will know that she has done everything she can to serve Hao-sama." Mari said.

Hao just remained silent. He remembered that time where he almost died and Opacho ran away saying that Hao wasn't himself. Luckily, Hao regained his mind and after being defeated, he changed a little and no longer did anything to his brother. However, the X-Laws still bothered him even though the Shaman Fight was over and Yoh was now the Shaman King. A gunshot was heard from behind the two before Hao got shot on the arm.

"Darn, next time, I won't miss." A mysterious guy with followers said. They weren't shamans by the look of it, but they were just random thugs. The guy fired again, but Hao's cloak flew and landed on his lap before he felt a weight on his back. The mysterious guy was shocked that he hit a pretty lady and just ran off with his group of thugs.

"Mari…" Hao said. Mari got shot on her back, near the shoulder blades. Hao was in turmoil, one of his last followers that was very loyal to him had sacrificed her life. He wrapped her up in his cloak before transferring themselves to Yoh's house where Faust VIII is. Hao rang the doorbell really quickly and Eliza opened the door.

"Hao? What are you doing here?" Faust asked and Yoh who was passing by stopped to see who was at the door.

"I got no other choice, but she got shot and I seriously didn't know who to go to." Hao said. They all noticed Mari in his arms and they also noticed blood was dripping down his arm too.

"Aniki, you got shot too…" Yoh said. He knew that Hao had changed and now accepted him into the family. Hao looked at it and shook his head.

"It doesn't matter…may I please ask you to help her first? She jumped into the path of the bullet…even though she knew I could either stop it, burn it up, teleport somewhere else or something among those things…" Hao said. Yoh nodded and looked at Faust who already picked Mari out of Hao's arms. He and Eliza ran to a nearest room and operated on her. Faust left some sterilized material so that Yoh can help Hao take out the bullet. Yoh was kind of shaking so Hao edged away from him. When Yoh finally got the bullet out, Faust was done and told Hao that she was alright.

Hao let out a sigh of relief. Yoh looked curious.

"I'm wondering if it was some other person from your group that got hurt…would you be worrying." Yoh asked. Hao looked stumped at that line. He really had no answer to it. He didn't even know why he was so eager to help her, he seriously had no answer.

Eliza came out of the room and Faust went up to her and immediately went into the room. Hao followed to see what happened and heard Faust talking to Mari.

"Mari wants to ask you whether or not if Hao-sama is alright?" Mari's weak voice asked. Something took over Hao and he knocked on the door. He cursed himself for getting too soft as of recent.

Faust opened the door and let Hao in. Faust and Eliza excused themselves to allow Hao and Mari some privacy.

"Mari is glad Hao-sama is fine." Mari said finally calmed. Hao's glance over at her softened and he grew quiet. "Mari doesn't mind getting hurt. Seeing Hao-sama hurt makes Mari hurt inside… Mari doesn't want to see Hao-sama hurt anymore." Mari whispered softly. Hao felt guilty and kneeled towards her.

"Did this Hao-sama ever tell Mari how foolish she is?" Hao asked. Mari's head bowed and tears dropped down.

"Mari knows that she is foolish, but Mari is willing to sacrifice to see Hao-sama safe…" Mari softly sobbed out. Hao surprised Mari by giving her a sudden hug. Her soft sobs turned into a choked gasp and her eyes were wide open. She then leaned closer enjoying the only possible hug she was going to receive from Hao. She wrapped her arms around Hao's waist and whispered, "Thank you, Hao-sama for all these years…I'll never regret ever doing foolish things when you don't really need it to be done."

"Just promise me next time you won't do foolish things again." Hao said. Mari nodded her head.

"Mari will promise Hao-sama, unless Hao-sama needs me to do so, then Mari will. Whatever Hao-sama wishes, Mari will do her best to serve Hao-sama's wishes." Mari said. Hao held her tighter. "Mari likes being in Hao-sama's warm arms." Hao felt his face heat up the slightest bit. "Hao-sama…what if Mari breaks the promise one day?"

"Maybe I'll make you leave the group." Hao said. Mari pushed away as tears were visible in her eyes.

"Hao-sama…please don't tell Mari you'll do that. If Hao-sama does do that, Mari will be very sad…" Mari said sobbing in her hands. Hao patted her head and had a gentle smile on his face but it looked pained as well.

"Mari, look at me." Mari looked up. "If you keep sacrificing yourself to protect me, not only will you get hurt, but you'll die. Then I'll be sad that I lost a great companion." Hao said. Mari looked guilty and happy at the same time.

"Mari's sorry, Hao-sama. Mari didn't realize that Hao-sama will be sad…" Mari said. "Mari wants to know if Mari is really a great companion." Hao was loss for words.

"You can say it like that. You're very loyal and you could talk a lot if you wanted to." Hao commented. Mari blushed. "Plus, being next to a pretty girl makes me feel special." Mari blushed redder and looked away.

"Mari thanks Hao-sama for the compliment. But Mari disagrees…being next to Hao-sama is a privilege." Mari said with her eyes closed and her hands across above her chest where her heart is. Hao looked at her serene face and his impulse kicked in. His hands cupped her face and her eyes fluttered open in shock. Hao groaned silently and backed away. Mari looked confused. She stared at Hao who was staring at nothing particular, but she knew he was sulking. She mentally grinned and crawled over and cupped Hao's face. She placed a kiss on his lips which surprised the shaman. Hao wrapped his arms around her waist and deepened the kiss. Mari wrapped her arms around his neck and felt him suck on her bottom lip. She blushed and opened her mouth to receive his tongue. His tongue wrestled with hers and easily dominated her tongue which he earned a whimper of 'unfairness' from her. She growled and pushed him down to dominate his tongue. Hao fell on his back and was shocked at her boldness. Hao growled and rolled over, but stopped midway remembering Mari was injured on her back. He pushed her head closer to his and forced her tongue back into her mouth. They broke the kiss to breathe and Mari lightly pushed him away. She scooted away from him and was very embarrassed at her actions. Hao thought she was mad at him, but found her blushing really badly and smirked. He disappeared and Mari noticed when she looked over at his spot. She panicked, but calmed down and blushed harder than before when she felt a pair of arms wrap around her waist from behind.

Mari placed her hands on Hao's clasped hands and closed her eyes thinking back of the times Hao 'asked' her for help. She remembers all the times that they had spent together, alone or with a bunch of people. Mari thought about what she seriously felt for her master and knew that she had fallen in love a long time ago, from when they first met…and she fell pretty deep. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get herself out.

"Has Hao-sama ever heard of the quote "Love is like a quicksand"?" Mari asked. Hao shook his head.

"To Mari, it seems true. The more you try to pull yourself out of love, you sink deeper into love just like when you try to get out of quicksand, you sink deeper…" Mari stated. Hao nodded.

"Is that how Mari feels?" Hao asked.

"Mari wants Hao-sama to accept her…not only as a loyal companion…as someone more special than that, because Mari…has fallen for Hao-sama…" Mari said. "Hao-sama doesn't have to accept Mari's feelings if he doesn't want to…Mari just wanted to get it out…"

"Mari did something foolish again…" Hao said. Mari's tears dropped on Hao's forearms.

"Mari knows…that Hao-sama would never feel the same, but Mari still wants to serve Hao-sama no matter what." Mari said.

"Mari, let me finish…please?" Hao said. Mari nodded. "You're foolish not because you fell for me, but because you don't realize you're more than just a loyal companion." Mari spun around at that and tackled him into a hug. Hao fell onto the ground and winced. Mari apologized and felt guilty for hurting him.

Hao placed at kiss on her lips to silence her and Mari's arms snaked around his neck. Hao hurled her onto his lap and hugged her tightly around her waist. He broke the kiss.

"Mari, I just wanted to thank you for always being there for me." Hao said. Mari shook her head and kissed his cheeks.

"Mari is happy to always be there for Hao-sama, especially since that time I got abandoned and beaten up." Mari said.

Hao felt Mari drop her arms to wrap around his waist and she laid her head on his shoulder. Hao moved his left arm to drape around her shoulder while his right hand wrapped around her waist. Hao shivered suddenly when a chilly gust of wind blew into the room. Mari got out of the position and obtained Hao's cloak which was still miraculously clean. She wrapped it around him before hugging him from in back of him and laid her head on his back. A shooting star passed and soon plenty passed.

_Mari wishes to always be with Hao-sama…forever and ever. _Mari wished.

A/N: Ah…it seems a bit corny. I'M SERIOUSLY SORRY IF HAO SEEMS A OUT OF CHARACTER! Truly


End file.
